A variety of in the language phrases where the first word ends in "ER" but is not a comparative word, have an "I" added to make each a new phrase comparing things. Finding words ending in "ER" that are not descriptive like STRONGER or FATTER was the key to set up this return to Friday from our old friend marti. I feel like John Wayne cast in a new western, back in the saddle again. I really like all the visuals from the theme answers. We have many letter words and initialisms and a slew of intermediate fill such as AIRSEA, APOLLO, CAMERA, C CLAMP, DERIDE, ENTIRE, ICEAGE, KIGALI, NUTMEG, SHABBY, ELECTEES and PORTABLE to keep all of us on our Friday toes. So let me know your initial reaction to this latest from the mind of our divine miss m.
17A. Baseball, vis-à-vis jai alai? : POKIER GAME (10). (POKER GAME) I guess the word relates to slow poke, where someone or something moves slowly. I guess I learned this word HERE.
27A. GE range, vis-à-vis an Easy-Bake toy? : TOASTIER OVEN (12). (TOASTER OVEN).
44A. SpongeBob's underwear, vis-à-vis Mickey's? : BOXIER BRIEFS (12). (BOXER BRIEFS) Since Bob is square, this makes perfect sense. I changed to this style of underwear 15 years ago. TMI?
59A. Jeep, vis-à-vis a Cadillac? : BUMPIER CAR (10). (BUMPER CAR). The suspension certainly is not intended for a smooth ride in a Jeep.
Across:
1. SEC nickname : BAMA. Nick and his Crimson Tide need only to survive a mediocre Missouri team to make it to the first final four.
5. Seating choice : AISLE. Yes, now that I am no longer young this is my seat of choice.
10. Skills : ARTS. A practitioner of the secret ways.
14. Islamic leader : IMAM.
15. What recon may provide : INTEL. Cyberspeak for intelligence data; not related to 26A. "Hooked on Bach" company : KTEL.
16. Famille member : PERE. Father in French, only tangentially related to 39A. Hemingway and others : PAPAS.
19. Award for Jessica Tandy : OBIE. The theater award for Off-Broadway (OB=obie) performances, I think started by the Village Voice.
20. Poetic preposition : ERE. I hope you did not err here.
21. Short time, shortly : NSEC. Now if you had not read the author, the next two fill would tell you this is created by our marti who loves these type words. She did a puzzle themed by them, and who does not love a good C Clamp? I cannot find any support for N-SEC, which I assume is for nanosecond. Wiki and the dictionaries say the abbreviation is ns. Or maybe there are more kinds of seconds that I do not know, being very limited in my scientific knowledge.
22. Wood shop tool : C CLAMP.
24. Scoff at : DERIDE. Hmmm....maybe I can work this word into my comments.
33. Spread : STREW.
36. "A Challenge for the Actor" author : HAGEN. We usually get UTA as we did yesterday.
37. Commercial ending? : IZE. Commercialize. Something Ms. Hagen did not do with her craft.
38. Appear dramatically : LOOM. Though she often did this.
40. Letters on a cross : INRI. Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum. Like this puzzle, there is no letter "J" in Latin, so this phrase translates to Jesus of Nazarene King of the Jews. Pontious Pilate is credited with attaching this name.
41. Tulsa sch. : ORU. Oral Roberts University.
42. Shell rival : MOBIL.
43. Ryan of "Bones" : O'NEAL. Ryan as a fun ex-con and father of Temperance Brennan.
47. __ block : CITY. Luckily the perps were solid because my mind went to LEGO.
48. Certain evergreen seed : NUTMEG. Coming from Connecticut helped here.
52. One taking a shot : CAMERA. Really clever cluing.
55. Grub : EATS. A cowboy reference?
57. One or more : ANY.
58. "Sin City" actress : ALBA. She is always worth a look. LINK. (1:49)
62. Buck : STAG. The message learned in this AD.
64. First name in design : COCO. Chanel. No baseball player clue for marti.
65. Socks : HOSE. Unless you consider the Pale Hose?
66. Delight : ELATE.
67. Hill workers : ANTS.
Down:
1. Human, e.g. : BIPED. Walking on two legs.
2. Love abroad : AMORE. Italian.
3. Auto attachment? : MAKER. Automakers are scrambling to recall all the vehicles with the deadly airbags.
4. "__ being unreasonable?" : AM I.
5. Like some rescues : AIR SEA.
6. "Picnic" playwright : INGE. He wrote PLAYS and screenplays.
7. Mus. direction : STACcato. JzB?
8. 10-Down vehicle : LEM. Thanks for the CSO, from this Lunar Excursion Module. Excursion on the Moon is such a cool concept.
9. Ins : ELECTEES. Not the outs.
10. Mission program : APOLLO. The promise JFK made to the world.
11. Self-named sitcom : REBA. Gone but not FORGOTTEN. (6:10)
12. Cut : TRIM.
13. Percolate : SEEP.
18. Fund : ENDOW. The lifeblood of private universities and schools come from alumni endowments.
23. Large Hadron Collider acronym : CERN. This may be Friday, but this clue is too misleading, as the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The name CERN is derived from the acronym for the French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. The combination of the secondary nature of the relationship and it being a French acronym seem very unfair, but I confess I had it filled before I saw the clue. I had to google to get the information. How many of you knew CERN? I like learning new things, but one level at a time.
25. It's checked when it's done : ITEM.
26. Capital of Rwanda : KIGALI. I did not recall this. MAP.
28. Inferior : SHABBY. A Friday answer for sure.
29. Piglike animal : TAPIR. I think I linked this picture before.
30. Grape site : VINE. This clue/answer grew on me.
31. Poet friend of T.S. : EZRA. Pound, not a friend of mine.
32. 10-Down first name : NEIL. Armstrong.
33. Challenging roommate : SLOB.
34. 1989 Lawn-Boy acquirer : TORO.
35. Gravy base : ROUX. I regret that my mother did not teach me her gravy secrets.
39. Easily moved : PORTABLE.
40. Part of MIT: Abbr. : INSTitute.
42. Yom Kippur War prime minister : MEIR. Golda, her HISTORY.
43. Helpful : OF USE.
45. Film with Manny the Mammoth : ICE AGE. Never seen any of them.
46. Complete : ENTIRE.
49. "Heart of Georgia" : MACON. It literally is the in the center of the state. LINK.
50. Sign into law : ENACT.
51. Wrap relatives : GYROS. Eat up guys.
52. Get money for : CASH.
53. "__ Rhapsody": Brahms vocal work : ALTO. Showing off her musical taste, sorry marti, I do not know this PIECE.
54. Many CEOs have them : MBAS. Masters of Business Administration.
55. Stone of "The Help" : EMMA. Is she a redhead? Her mouth always looks a little off to me.
56. Miffed, with "in" : A PET. Never heard of this IDIOM.
60. Flier with Chicago H.Q. : UAL. United Airlines
61. Kelly Clarkson label : RCA. Radio Corporation of America.
I am not sure why I would care what record company she is signed to, but this was filled before I saw the clue so it did not matter. As always, marti delivered a nice challenge and wit and education.
The end of the year looms near so get ready for whatever holiday(s) you celebrate. Lemonade out.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThis one was too much for me. Got the theme, but couldn't figure out POKIER or BAMA (I was thinking SEC stood for Securities Exchange Commission). Other unknowns included KIGALI, EMMA and A PET. Finally had to turn on the red letter help to get 'er done.
Gotta go wake my son to watch the first launch of the new Orion space ship in 15 minutes...
I thought 22a was a shout out to our hostess, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteI imagined something like THIS hanging in her house.
Or maybe Boomer has bought her a lamp like this.
Its also possible that she has been honored with a major award by someone from Fragile, Italy?
Another shout out might be found at 1a? Isn't Marti's dear husband an Alabama Alum? How sweet of Hearti!
ReplyDeleteWell now I am confused. A quick blog search show that on March 31, 2013 'BAMA was declared to be the alma mater but on September 18, 2014 it was Ole Miss. And now I see on May 18, 2012 Marti wrote that it is Ole Miss. So be it!
ReplyDeleteEither way I thought of Alan. Or is it Allen?
Geeez, I'm going back to bed...
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm pretty sure it's Ole Miss, and I was with Barry putting the SEC in NYC. I believe Ralphie's third lamp belongs to Splynter. Hmmmm. KTEL crossing KIGALI -- Irish Miss was seeing into the future yesterday.
I don't consider a C-CLAMP to be a woodworking tool. The small jaws damage the wood. They're better for metal work.
Learning moment: NUTMEG is an evergreen seed. I had no idea where it came from.
Sorry, Lemon, CERN was a gimme after all the hoopla about the discovery of the Higgs boson last year.
I am so glad CERN was a gimme, I was afraid it was not something anyone paid attention to when in the news or on the The Big Bang Theory
ReplyDeleteOle Miss it is, I believe. My ex and her family are all Bama fans
Good Morning, Marti and friends. Fun Friday puzzle. Since Tigers wouldn't fit in the spaces provided, I knew 'BAMA must be the SEC name.
ReplyDeleteMy very tall husband likes the AISLE seats in theaters and planes for the leg room.
I don't believe I have ever heard the name of Rwanda's capital ~ KIGALI was new for me.
UTA HAGEN must be the Celebrity of the Week!
I thought of Eero Saarinen before COCO Chanel for the designer.
One Taking a Shot = CAMERA was my favorite clue of the puzzle.
QOD: The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs. Joan Didion (Dec. 5, 1934)
I agree with Desper-Otto in that CERN has been in the news often, so was easy to discern. I did not know what the acronym meant, but I am familiar with the acronym.
ReplyDeleteYep. CERN was immediate fill. It's gotten a lot of ink. But Kigali and Hagen did me in. I picked an N at the cross, so FIW. Fun puzzle, and the theme helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteI thought I came across just about every theme, then this theme. Bumpiercar? Toastieroven?? Not in a million years.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGood morning all !
Not too SHABBY Marti ! Thank you. Though, too many musical direction clues. :)
You too Lemonade. My first reaction ? Thought it would be a super easy Friday. Yes, NSEC would be a contrivable ? short for a super super short second. A Nanosecond.
It started out as a speed run. Over half done after the first pass. Not so fast after those first 10 minutes. Soon saw that we were adding an I with POKIER. Even knowing that, it took another 30 minutes to complete this puzzle.
One major slowdown was having first pass fill FINISH instead or ENTIRE for clue "complete." A fine challenge.
That SEC. Hand up for the overseers.
I thought 10D might be ORION. APOLLO is so passe. Did you see the liftoff this AM ? Neat.
CERN today. MUONs yesterday. QUARKS tomorrow ? I've known of CERN for decades. Had a course in nuclear particle physics in school. First "go-away" interview after school was at FERMI. Entry level government jobs don't pay very much.
ELECTEES or ELECTEdS. I'll wait for the perps. Nope, I had to guess. With a G and N on either side, I'll opt for the E !
65A HOSE ? Calm down Splynter !
Today is Richard Pennimen's 81st birthday.
ReplyDeletePenniman. He was born in MACON.
Had to go to the gym to let this one percolate. Got home and finally muscled my way through.
ReplyDeleteTTP, with your talk of muons and quarks, I thought you'd misspelled Richard Feynman. D'oh!
ReplyDeleteRalphie @ 6:01, "C.C. LAMP" - good one!!
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 6:27, if you lived in my house, there would be no doubt that 'BAMA is the arch rival of Allen's alma mater - OLE MISS. Whenever they play, the cats seem to know, and simply disappear for a few hours until all the yelling and screaming is over...
Great challenge, Marti. Half way through I sussed the theme which helped tremendously. A technical DNF due to a natick, the K in KTEL. I admit I have heard of KTEL, but not KIGALI.
ReplyDeleteCERN was a gimme. My nephew travels to Geneva from time to time to work on the Hadron Collider.
Alan watches REBA endlessly, very often the same episode, although he has many seasons worth of DVDs.
"Don't get yourself IN A PET" is familiar to me
The clue about Mickey's briefs reminds me that Winnie the Pooh is banned in parts of Poland because he has no pants. The poohbahs called him a hermaphrodite (sic). Rather, he has no genitals which fact also got the poohbahs IN A PET. I understand that Milne used his son's stuffed animals as models. Stuffed animals don't have genitals either. I pooh-pooh this ruling.
Link Pooh nonsense
TGIF!
ReplyDeleteAfter nailing BAMA, AISLE, ARTS, & IMAM i was thinking a Friday slam dunk, but from there on it was one fill for roughly every four or five clues. Marty, you did me in.
I never revert to red letters, so when I gave up. I called it a day.
The only theme I filled in was 27A. My guess was Electric OVEN. Well, it fit! I wasn't even close to figuring out the I gimmick. Now I got to figure out what a CERN is.
With that, I'm off to a working weekend, so I'll talk to you all on Monday.
Greetings, Weekend Solvers! Marti's convoluted puzzle introduced an early start to the weekend. Thanks for 'splainin' Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteI had to STREW letters all over the grid before any of it made sense and like others I thought SEC meant Securities Exchange Commission. However, BAMA eventually prevailed.
My first encounter with CERA was in Dan Brown's novel, The Citadel.
PERE was pure guesswork as was the French famille for family.
In A PET made no sense to me and I wasn't sure of it but all else fit. No idea about Kelly Clarkson. RCA simply emerged.
Very nice job, Marti, thank you for the challenge this morning.
Have a grand Friday, everyone!
Marti- You hurt my brain this morning. I can usually finish all the puzzles in less than 20 minutes but this sucker was mostly blank at that point. I had GAME, OVEN, CAR but had no idea of their starts. There were just so many unknowns that I had to grind out- KTEL, ONEAL, HAGEN, LA MER, KIGALI, ICE AGE, ALBA, EMMA, ALTO, RCA, EZRA- these all were solved by the crosses. Was a buck a DEER or STAG, socks HITS, BAMS, or the German HOSE, Kelly's label RCA or some other abbr., auto MATIC or MAKER, wraps relatives HEROS ( the sandwich, sic) or GYROS, and complete FINISH or ENTIRE. These multiple possibilities just wrecked and racked my brain. This puzzle was a Saturday one in my mind.
ReplyDeleteIt's was when I got BUMPIER that I realized that IER would go before the theme answers and that enabled me to fill in AIR-SEA and ICE AGE.
I have a mental block of Golda MEIR's spelling- IE or EI.
Well I am getting in my 18 year old BOXIER JEEP to go visit grandkids.
Thanks to Marti and Lemonade for a challenging puzzle and a fine write up. I was on Barry G's page. I centered on the wrong SEC and spent too much time in the NW. Now how is that even possible after all the ongoing chatter this past weekend about the new college playoff system?! Besides, I don't usually stay in one spot that long.
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteMarti really made me work for it today. At about the time I had 50% white space I worried I wouldn't finish at all. I had an idea what the theme was but it didn't help. After a break, I picked it up again and did much better. Got Naticked at Hagen and Kigali, so a Technical DNF for today.
No problem with CERN for this science guy. Lemon, I don't know much about Emma Stone, but a check of images of the actress over the years reinforces my supposition that she is of the fake redhead variety. This annoys me to no end. I adore redheads - real ones - and personally detest the current fashion of wearing red where it does not biologically belong.
Once, before I die, I hope to see Yellowrocks with a nit to pick.
ReplyDeleteLearning Moment of the Day: The "g" in the "Elgin Marbles" is hard, not soft.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the most challenging Friday puzzles in ages. It was also a DNF due to ORU/Toro crossing; I was thinking Oklahoma State University and even though Toso looked odd, I left it. Also was stumped by the Kigali/Ktel crossing, as both were unknown. Adding insult to injury, I didn't get the dropping of the "I" to form familiar phrases until reading the expo. Duh!
Marti, you outdid yourself with this one, so congrats and thanks, Lemony, for explaining so much of what I missed.
Dennis, have you kept up with Gracepoint? Any idea who the killer is?
Have a great day.
Nice blogging job, Lemonade.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of CERN - what with the technical relationship with the Collider, and the fact that it's an acronym in French ( frawnch ) did not bother me. Since its Friday, anything goes. A mere hint of a tinge of a sort-of association is often all that's required for it to be included as THE clue. In fact it's de rigueur.
On the other hand, I would vouch that more people know of the SEC or rather the S.E.C. as the Securities and Exchange Commission rather than the football usage. Would it have ruined a Friday puzzle to have included the word 'football' in the clue ?
On another subject, I have always wondered why Mace is considered a separate spice from Nutmeg. They both smell tha same and have the same flavinoids and other esoteric chemicals. Would you consider green onion leaves (scallions) and bulb onions as 'different' spices ? BTW, CT, the Nutmeg State is so, only because of some hoary scam, perpetuated by some Yakee merchant seamen.. No Nutmeg is harvested in CT.
Lime Rickey.
ReplyDeleteThe constructors and Rich put considerable research into their puzzle making. Each puzzle is vetted and double checked by several people on the editor's staff. Therefore, there are few legitimate nits, although one occasionally gets by. When it does I willingly acknowledge it.
Most nits by posters on the corner are "top of your head" nits with no research at all. So many of the questioned words are quite well known, especially in written material. Because someone has never heard a certain expression does not make it illegitimate. Rare spellings and usages are to be expected late in the week. I find quite a few nits every day, most often with the posters. I research most of these nits to see whether I am mistaken and most often confirm Rich's take on them.
Lemon: Very informative write-up & links.
ReplyDeleteMarti: This is my All-Time-Favorite-Solve of a puzzle constructed by you. Thank You very much!
Best part was the lunch suggestion at 51-d answer, GYROS, since I'm heading up to Tarpon Springs.
A TOASTIER toast to you ALL from the Sunshine State at Sunset.
Cheers!!!
Marti! Fun tinged with torment and cleverness with a side of naticks (HAGEN/KINGALI) for two bad cells. BIPED yes, MATIC no made the NW interesting. LA MER is not LAMER? Wow!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-POKIER GAME was fabulous and a problem baseball needs to remedy
-She got to play with the EASY BAKE OVEN in this scene
-My good friend pilots the BAMA recruiting plane
-PAPA is a name I am proud to bear also
-CommercialIZEd
-My Nebr. “surfer-wann-be’s” always loved this CITY BLOCK store in Cocoa Beach
-A CAMERA would have been OF USE in Webster, MO
-Useful hill workers = ANTS not SENS or REPS
-AutoMAKERs are prospering with sinking gas prices
-A LEM model was a big part of the complicated movie Interstellar
-The grape VINE is not always a reliable source of INTEL
-ATM’s have replaced the need to CASH a check
-In what movie did he meet her by going STAG to a dance?
-What movie involves anti-matter stolen from the CERN?
"Therefore, there are few legitimate nits, although one occasionally gets by. When it does I willingly acknowledge it."
ReplyDeletePoint taken. I look forward to the next one.
The final installment of the TINMAN trilogy which I am happy to post for my friend.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I WAS ALL WRONG about CERN being hard to fill.
ReplyDeleteMadame Defarge, can you knit a guillotine? Are you a knit picker when you solve puzzles?
Whoa, Nellie! I fought my way through this one and WON! Albeit, after a second cup of coffee and a few cross-outs, I came here and all was correct?! What a fun puzzle! This was a great Friday to be off work and come check out all the interpretations and the write-up for this puzzle. I usually have to dash in and out and not fully check everything. Today is special, so thank you all for the puzzle fun you provide. TTFN
ReplyDeleteNice to see all those pictures o Tinman with ICE in his glass!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGosh, Marti, this was a toughie! I'm surprised that I actually got most of it, but I'm one of the folks who's never heard of CERN, or KIGALI, and I foolishly but MGRS instead of MBAS, thinking "managers" rather than degrees and that gave me trouble in the SW. But I got the theme early on and liked lots of the other clues, so thanks for a challenging Friday, Marti. And, you too, Lemonade, for your expo.
Have a great day, everybody!
I don't understand the direct conflict between lemons comments about 23d CERN and his comments @ 7:09a.
ReplyDeleteHope this puzzle was fun to construct so at least someone enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteKinda got the theme, but still needed help with TOASTIER OVEN; I had 'roastier' and couldn't get ITEM. Sigh. Got everything else, though, so I shouldn't complain about a Friday.
Well done, Mart.
Great write-up, Lemon. Thanks.
Dudley:
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you feel that way about fake redheads, or as I prefer to say, a redhead by choice.
If we ever meet I hope you'll overlook that one flaw I have. LOL
There is no direct conflict 11:12am Anon; in my write up I expressed my personal opinion that CERN would be a very difficult clue/fill to solve. The fact that the Large Hadron Collider had its own initialism, the fact that the acronym for the location of the LHC was in French, and the fact the clue did not mention location led me to believe there would be great difficulty there. At 7:09, I responded to the early comments acknowledging that people had paid attention to all the reference to the LHC beyond recalling it was in Geneva (which is all I recalled) and finally at 10:33, I conceded I was all wrong about how people would react to the clue/fill. I hope this all did not trouble you too much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your respect of my solving skills. Your summaries are usually condescending, so I appreciate the consistency.
ReplyDeleteI like the way Lemonade summarizes things for the "less enlightened" of us. He is, in no way, condescending. Lighten up, Anonymous!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteHadda lookup 1A to crack the NW corner. Fool that I am, I took the SEC to be the Security and Exchange Commission. (Apparently following chief-Fool Barry G in his folly.) Oh, why weren't acronyms licensed from the start?
Otherwise quite do-able. My first gimmes? OBIE, EZRA, and ROUX. (Now there's a law firm!)
Thanks, Marti, for a challenging Friday that felt that was a sigh of relief when it was FINALLY done. Knew it took awhile when my husband asked for the 3rd time passing through, "Done with that yet?" This was one of those where I went down some rabbit holes, got stuck and had to erase and step back with a new look. For instance, had MATIC and then MATER before I got to MAKER. I also knew Jessica ALBA, and wagged EARN and BLUE which fit !-- before having to change to CASH and ALTO.
ReplyDeleteThough I started fast with BAMA, since the nearby MIZZOU team is playing (likely losing) to them tomorrow in the SEC title game.
Thanks for your write-up Lemonade! And keep us (Jeff City) in your thoughts as the Ferguson to Jeff City march ends today here, hope it will be peaceful as its organizers have planned. It will be certainly be soggy as it is pouring rain. Mea culpa if that is too political, CC.
Hi everybody! I really enjoyed this puzzle though it was appropriately difficult for a Friday for me. I thought had the same thought about SEC as Barry. I had trouble in lots of places with 'matic' instead of MAKER, 'emir' instead of IMAM, 'being' instead of BIPED; I had no idea about KIGALI, I've heard of INAPET but never used it in my life, and so on. But I never turned on red letters and I persevered. BTW, I LOVED the theme, one of the cleverest we've had in a while I thought. Also, I'm a big fan of Emma Stone. Cute and witty I think. Thanks Marti and Lemon.
ReplyDeleteGary, could the answer to your dance question be 'Marty'?
ReplyDeleteLucina, I'd love you no matter what hair color or makeup you have on. Having read your blogs ever so often, I wouldn't care if you were in a burqua.(!) lol.
Dudley, of all the people on this blog, you would have been the last person I could imagine that would espouse saying such a blanket blatant statement about fake redheads. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but be very careful on blurting it out so explicitly when you are Blue. ( The downside of being Blue ). Bloggers have long memories. I respect you greatly, from your numerous previous blogs, which is why your statement sounds so much out of character.
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary - The stealing of anti-matter from CERN - would that be from Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' ?
I first heard of Kigali, Rawanda from an Apple IIgs 1985 adventure game, 'Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego' ( Broderbund). She escaped to Kigali once in a while.
Another QOD: There is nothing so annoying as a good example !! - Mark Twain ( December 5, 1835 - April 21, 1910)
I just donated a bit to Wikipedia. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do since I use it fairly often.
ReplyDeleteWe've often contributed to Oxfam but I just got a phone call from them to add to the five to 10 other telephone solicitations we get weekly so I turned 'em down. They've ruined a good thing for themselves with the barrage of phone calls.
Dudley's comment about Emma along with Lemonade714's only shows how some men can't get away from objectifying women. Shameful. "her mouth looks a little off to me"??!! Whaaat? Should we spew forth observations as to the appearance of you two, dork and pork?
ReplyDeleteI find Emma extremely likable both in appearance and personality. There are several interviews(with Ellen, Kelly Ripa, Chelsea Handler, etc.) on youtube but I chose this skit with Jimmy Fallon to show off her fun attitude.
smh at 'personally detest'
Still Lurking:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment. As for Dudley, he like everyone, else is entitled to his opinion. I admire that kind of honesty.
First of all, I can't apologize for the clue at 1-A. My submission had "Ole Miss rival" as the clue. But that might have been too easy, even for non-SEC fans on a Friday?
ReplyDeleteSecondly, don't blame Dudley for his distaste of "fake" redheads. When he said "...personally detest the current fashion of wearing red where it does not biologically belong." Maybe he was referring to this current fashion?
There is a variant of seven card stud poker called "baseball" in which the 3s and 9s are wild.
ReplyDeleteInteresting...had no idea there would be feedback about the redhead thing. My view is pretty simple: natural red hair looks nice, and those who have it generally have other features of complexion and color that harmonize well. It's rare, in my experience, for a person with dyed hair to look truly natural. I am no fashion expert, but around here I have observed far more artificial red hair over the last 5 or 10 years. I guess there is something driving the present popularity - maybe some new colorant came on the market?
ReplyDeleteHi Lucina! I promise I won't refuse to invite you in for a glass of wine, if you're visiting this corner of the nation. :-)
Marti, that's news to me - I wasn't aware of any trend involving the matchup of hair in various locations. Seems a little off-putting.
In Europe we found hordes of young women with flashy hair colors from the Crayola box, really fake like the HeartRx link shows. Pink,sky blue, Valentine red, sunshine yellow, royal purple.
ReplyDeleteI have many friends who are redheads by choice, but quite tastefully.
My curtains came. They are are ivory because I could not find ecru.But they do add a touch of class and softness. I am satisfied for now. Maybe ecru later.
Thank you Marti and Lemon.
ReplyDeleteFinished the puzzle (well almost) earlier today. Then had an appointment to see the doc. He measured my BP at 170 over 100. Yikes!
Can't wait for the sticker shock at the pharmacy. Probably good for elevating my readings by another ten points.
-Yup!
ReplyDelete- Trivia Answer about a movie with a man going STAG meets a woman
- Trivia Answer about movie that starts with a very grotesque scene at CERN
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteYa got me, Marti! DNF on this one w/o cheats.
Still as sick. Thanks for good wishes!
Did not realize that P. D.James had died. Loved her books.
Cheers!
Desper-otto,
ReplyDeleteJust now reading all the posts since I last posted. Never heard of him. But read about him. Thanks.
Big Easy, I regularly do the Monday to Wednesday puzzles under 20, and am often around 10, but I can't get to the times Desper-otto and Al Cyone do them in. I fully expect that the last 4 days of each week are going to be longer. I personally find 40 minutes on a tough Friday puzzle (for me) reasonable. After I gain years of experience, maybe I'll get faster...
Lime Rickey, Elgin, Illinois, or Elgin, Texas ? Both say their pronunciations are correct.
Husker Gary, did you mean Ferguson, MO ?
Occasional Lurker, going to have to (somewhat) disagree with you about Mace and Nutmeg. Different parts of the fruit. Perhaps, using your points, like comparing filet versus rib-eye ?
"She combs in color everywhere, she combs her hair, She's A Rainbow" ca. 1966...
Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf. Watch out Luke Donald !
Oh, my! Marti, this may be my favorite puzzle, although I did not come close to finishing it! Just proves "hard" doesn't mean "bad" !
ReplyDeleteAnd Lemon, your explanation was the best ever. I knew SEC was LSU and those other folks! But there was so much more I didn't know til you 'splained it to me.
Did you ask for the recepie for roux for gravy? It is just equal parts oil and flour heated slowly until it is the color of a paper bag...or more. The oil can be anything...olive, vegetable, butter, pork fat...depending on where you live, I guess.
What a great day this has been. Thanks to both Marti and Lemonade for all e fun!
Marti,fantastic theme. I really enjoyed it. Lemon, your blog was interesting, informative and witty as always. Fine day on the Corner.
ReplyDeleteHi all:
ReplyDeleteOh Marti, I praised your writeup yesterday & gave you an & and you embarrass me with a DNF today? :-)
Yep, 2 4x4 blocks at 26 & 29d and 55 & 56d would still be blank if not for Lem. Thanks Lem!
I did find this enjoyable - no accounting irregularities at 1a.
I too got CERN off the bat. Loved LEM, Apollo, & Neil all on the day Orion had a successful
test flight.
Fav: ROUX. Mmmm Gumbo.
YR - I almost had beer come out my nose at your abrupt transition - I have many friends who are redheads by choice... My curtains....
Ya'll have a great weekend!
Cheers, -T